Chance to win Logos

http://www.flowerdust.net/2009/01/12/im-giving-away-6100-seriously/

Follow the site above to a gal's blog. She is giving away a free version of the Scholar Version of Logos to one lucky winner!

All kinds of craziness:)

So, even though it's January I still have a lot in the mix. I have two J-Term classes in the next three weeks. Both are one hour long ethics courses: Creation and Evolution and Death and Dying. I got my books yesterday and am ready to get em' done. I've also been working on my commissioning paperwork that is all due in two weeks. I just finished putting together the 4 DVD's I have to turn in for preaching and leading worship- that took a while! I also finished all the tedious "fill in the blank" pages of information collecting and about half of my theology questions. So, I can almost taste sweet victory:) I'm also in the midst of planning a packing trip to the Smoky Mountains. Once again, anytime I need to work hard it always helps to have a "play hard" goal at the end to keep me focused. Brandon (fishing buddy) and I are going to attempt to climb a mountain, hike and camp out for two nights and three days in JANUARY!! It sounds risky, so I like it:) It'll give me a chance to utilize the new 0 degree bag I got in light of a broken zipper on the last bag. The new one is a Kelty, Cosmic 0 degree mummy bag. I look forward to posting an update after the trip. The last thing I've been working on is an independent study. I decided I wanted to be more efficient in my IBS (Inductive Bible Study) skills. Professor David Thompson (author of Bible Study that Works) has agree to tutor me through my Isaiah Exegesis Course (Sandy Richter), especially in the areas where I would utilize IBS. I'm very excited about this opportunity and look forward to hopefully becoming a lean, mean IBS maching:) So, now I'm going to open a bag of expensive coffee (Starbucks employee perk) and have breakfast!

Kim has a job!

We knew it was only a matter of time. Kim was offered a full-time position with Kid's Place in Lexington, Kentucky. She will be the front desk supervisor beginning next Tuesday. She is getting ready to go in today to go over the benefits program they offer. It's right next to a big Gold's Gym and she has been told that she will have a membership there as a part of her benefits. So, in three months she will be "Body Builder Kim", or maybe not. She has also taken a part-time job at Legacy Gymnastics in Lexington. She will work there a couple of nights a week and Alexis' classes will be 1/2 off that way. It's a huge gym! So all of this couldn't have come a moment sooner. If she didn't get a position in the next two weeks we were looking at a very large Federal loan- that's no good. Alexis went to preschool screening on Monday. It's in Wilmore and its supposed to be fabulous (of course, everyone knows that Jesus lives in Asbury's backyard). It's a public preschool for mostly poor folks like us, so it will be a lot of seminary kids and local kids. We will find out shortly if she has been accepted, which will be very necessary now that Kim has a job. So, we are taking a deep sigh and looking forward to a schedule.

Asbury Chapels are Amazing!

I have attended chapel now, twice a week for two weeks in a row. Wasn't really my plan when I started classes but I just can't help myself. The worshiping community here is amazing! There are three things that make chapel amazing:
1) The people attending- there is such a feeling of awe when you come into worship with hundreds of people who have a heart and a thirst for God. You can feel hearts flowing from voices when they open their mouths. This could be a wrong assumption, but most of the individuals there are singing out of a fullness as opposed of an emptiness. The campus community is well known for that. And even those that are there and empty are looking for a fullness; that's why they are there.
2) Worship style- they really do blended worship well. It doesn't feel pieced together or disjointed. They have a guy on a piano who plays hymns and modern songs incredibly well! He composes music so well that most of the time you can't tell what's a hymn and whats a modern piece. The songs flow very well, the musician sings and plays well.
3) Speakers and Chapel Pastor- We had an incredible speaker today who spoke about prayer and her connection to the Holy Spirit. Tuesday we had a guy who was local who spoke about Mary and her love of Jesus. Everyone they bring in has more of a practical spiritual message as opposed to a dry theological message. And then there is the Chapel Director- JD Walt. He is a very soft spoken man who seems to have a real spiritual sense to him. Whenever he preaches he shows a great deal of insight and faith. Overall, the the speakers are always deep in knowledge and faith encouraging.
Well, now I'm going to go play with Alexis. Our classes were canceled for the afternoon because of the ice storm. A little bit of play time and a whole lot of reading- fun, fun!

A scatter minded persons dream come true- OneNote

So I recently bought a Sony Vaio laptop from someone at Asbury that was used but only 8 months old. It came with Microsoft Office, Student Version. One of the software products that comes with Student Office is called "OneNote". OneNote is a program that is like Word on crack, with tabs! The tab system allows you to keep every document open, organized and editable in a few clicks. You can basically organize everything in the following way: Theme>Sub theme>Page. So I have a theme set up for Seminary/Spring '08. Off of that I have all of my classes each as it's own sub theme (ie.- Concise Greek, Methodist Polity, Matthew, etc.). And then off of each I have my lectures listed as their own pages off to the side (ie.- 2/12/08, 2/14/08, 2/19/08). I also have the syllabus listed as the first page of every sub theme. This has also been great because I am blitzed by ideas all the time and have always struggled with finding a way to keep and organize ones that I like. So, now I have a "Church Planting" theme folder. I have it broken up by the following sub themes: ideas, resources, events, rules to live by. Since I just attended a Wesleyan Church Planters Event I made a page off of "Events" named "Wesleyan Church Planters Event" and took all my notes there. So, instead of accessing "File", then "Open" and then opening the file "Church Planting" it's all one the page in front of you. So, you go to the left and click "Church Planting", go to the top of the page and click "Events" and go to the right of the page and click "Wesleyan Church Planters Event". Now that I have thoroughly confused you, let me just say I highly recommend Microsoft OneNote to anyone who could use a software system that will organize and compile all of your thoughts, ideas and work! I think it would be invaluable to anyone who is writing a book, in marketing, enjoys chaos journaling (yes, I made that up) or is in ministry and enjoys brainstorming. It has tons more features that make the software three times as user friendly as any other Microsoft Office software program. So, two thumbs up!!

D-Day over, but not over

Well, it's been a long day. It didn't help that I got to bed late. I closed at Starbucks and got home around 12:30pm. Then if took me until 2am to fall asleep. And in my anxiousness for the day I woke up two or three times until I finally got up around 8am. My classes were great, though! I was very impressed with my professors. My "Pastoral Crisis and Intervention" class was like listening to a heart wrenching sermon for over an hour! He used several different stories, songs and videos that ripped your heart out for those who have experienced loss in their lives- very powerful and very well done. Once again, at Asbury there is a continual focus to make what you learn ministry applicable from the very get-go! So, that was my day. Kim had a good interview and was told that she would receive an offer or not on Friday. So, once again, we wait. She was told that they now have another store that has an assistant manager opening, so now they need three. Kim was very nervous about the interview and is relieved that it's over. As for Alexis, school was canceled today because of snow and ice. So, maybe that'll happen tomorrow. Thank you for everyone who has been praying for us- we're getting closer!